Christopher Chwedyk, AIA, CSI — The Code Group
Areas of Expertise: Building Codes
Christopher E. Chwedyk, AIA, CSI is a licensed architect and chief code consultant of the Code Consulting Division of Burnham. Mr. Chwedyk is also a Director of The Code Group, the licensed architectural subsidiary of Burnham that he assisted in founding in 2001. He was previously the principal of the Chicago office of Gage-Babcock and Associates; a firm that specialized in life safety and fire protection engineering. During his career, he has also been a member of such prestigious architectural firms as Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, Bertrand Goldberg Associates, and Jack Train Associates.
With over 35 years of experience in the profession, Mr. Chwedyk has concentrated on the technical requirements of building design and has managed the production of code-compliant construction documents for a wide variety of project types. Over the past decade he has performed numerous code compliance plan reviews for the City of Chicago and other municipalities. He is also a Certified Building Plans Examiner through the International Code Council (ICC) and a Registered Energy Professional (REP) in the City of Chicago.
Mr. Chwedyk's professional affiliations include the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), and has been an office-holder in both organizations. He has also served on the 2015 ICC International Existing Building Code Committee, the National AIA Codes and Standards Committee, as well as the Building Code Advisory Commission for Oak Park, IL. As a member of the Construction Specifications Institute (CSI), he co-authors the "Code Scene Investigation" column in the Chicago Chapter Change Order magazine.
A frequent speaker for Lorman Education Services and other organizations, Mr. Chwedyk has recently given presentations on such topics as Energy Codes, Green Building and Codes, and Prescriptive vs. Performance-Based Codes.
Mr. Chwedyk has a Bachelor of Architecture (BArch) degree from the University of Illinois at Chicago and received certification by the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB) in 1992. In addition, Mr. Chwedyk has a Masters of Project Management (MPM) from the Keller Graduate School of Management. He is also an adjunct faculty member of William Rainey Harper College in Palatine, IL where he teaches courses on building codes and construction drawings.